IT IS FERVENTLY hoped and prayed that there would be enough momentum now for the proposed Department of Overseas Filipino Workers. House Bill 4814 seeks just that. The creation of such department is long overdue.
On Sept. 18 there was a joint House committee meeting of the Foreign Affairs & Overseas Workers Affairs where lawmakers tackled 31 bills for the creation of the Department of OFW. A similar Senate bill was filed by Sen. Bong Go. Each has different versions but of the same clamor to create a department. In the 17th Congress, the House had 104 different bills and resolutions all about Overseas Filipinos.
House Bill 4814 has many provisions similar or with the same thrusts and purposes as the other bills, but what distinguishes this bill is that it also establishes the following: the Anti-Illegal Recruitment Authority; the Overseas Land-Based Tripartite Consultative Council; the Inter-Agency Coordinating Council on Migration and Development; Global Migration Institute; and Barangay OFW Councils.
There are now too many separate tents. We must have all of them under one tent where they work together, in tandem, in teams, in coordinated fashion. Before, we only had the POEA. Then we needed all the other agencies we have now to attend to the complex needs, situations, and problems of overseas Filipinos, their dependents, and their communities.
We especially need the Anti-Illegal Recruitment Authority and the Barangay OFW Councils. These are missing pieces. We know there is a need for such so that we have people with the specific function of checking on the dependents left behind.
Yes, most OFWs are with responsible employers and they find gainful employment — enough to lift their families out of poverty, but it cannot be denied that all OFWs suffer on a daily basis because of their prolonged separation from their families. Their families suffer from not having them around every day.
We dream of the day when no Filipino will be forced to choose to go abroad for work because they could not find it here in the Philippines.
We wish for the day when Filipinos no longer have to work overseas because the workplaces here do not pay just wages and benefits.
We hope for the day when Filipinos work overseas for professional growth, not for survival.
